Tag: Creative Writing

Happy muthafuckin Thursday!! How was your weekend? I’ve been busy the last 2 days but I’m at work today and finally found some time to write this thing up. I know it’s been a bit of a low post month here at We’re Not Rolling but don’t worry I promise to make up for lost weeks sometime in 2018. It’s also been a slow month of work which I’ve learned fuels my posts. When I’m not working, I find that I don’t think about work at all. However writing these posts forces me to think about the job which to be honest I’m not a fan of. So in the coming weeks I’m going to open up the topics I go on about here because that’ll keep me sane and I can try something new here on the site. I have a ton of other shit that I would love to go about here and haven’t. This year that changes. I promise it’ll be just as entertaining. Alright let’s get into this shall we?

It’s happen to all of us and it’s occurrence is so common that it border lines creepy. It’s almost as if unforeseen forces of the world constantly chose to interfere in this matter. Why in the Fuck is every job I or anyone in this business get hired on 20-30 miles away from my/their house instead of the studio I/they live down the street from? It’s seriously a pretty strange phenomenon. I’ve lived 2-3 miles from 2 studios, Sony and Culver Studios for the past 6 years and have only worked at Culver once in that time. I have worked at Sony but that was prior to living close to it. The last time I worked at Sony I lived 25 miles from it. It’s happen to me so many times over the years that if I wanted to count it would be impossible. I’ve done multiple seasons of shows that were based 40 miles away. That’s insanity. I don’t know how people drive that far and further to work over several years. It’s bad enough driving that distance over 4-5 months on a show. I just can’t mentally deal with all that time that I’m wasting driving. The older I get the more I worry about time. I want to waste as little of that time on driving as I can but this industry is making that a bit tough.

I thought it was just me that this would happen to when I started working in this business. I remember getting phone calls and thinking “What the Fuck is going on?” I thought it was just my shit luck. Then I noticed that it was happening to my roommate as well and he was doing different jobs than I was but nothing was ever at the local studio. I’ve moved 4 times in 12 years and still would get jobs on the opposite side of town. If I was living in the Valley I would get work in Culver City. When I lived in Hollywood I got a job in Santa Clarita. It’s bizarre I tell you. Then I began to ask people at work where they lived and started to see a pattern. Now after 10 plus years in I know that it happens to almost everyone. Sure there is always those lucky few that have had years of employment close to them but if you ask around set where people live I think you’ll find that the majority of folks always tend to live a good distance from the studio that the show is based from. A great example is the Teamsters, they mostly all live out in Santa Clarita and work in all the studios down here Fox, Sony, Paramount. Think about that for a minute if you’re not a fan of doing like myself, most teamsters not only drive 30 plus miles everyday to and from work but then drive all day as well. I would die. I could never drive that long.

I thought this was only a California thing but I’ve had friends that work all over the country and have experienced the same thing multiple times. A few months ago I made the meme you see here…

And to my surprise I started getting comments on this post from people in parts of Europe that experienced the same Fucking thing. That’s weird right? I mentioned “unforeseen forces” above as the reason this happens so often however I really don’t believe that so what else can it be? If you don’t believe me, next time you work on a show start asking everyone you can where they live and conduct your own small study. Then you can come back here and we can compare notes. I bet more than half the people on your crew live 20 plus miles from the stage you’re working on. I was actually having a conversation with someone the other day about this very topic and we came up with a silly way to take care of this problem. We decided that there should be a website called “CrewSwap” in which a person could look up who of their referenced people lives and has a job in which they would want to swap locations on. Everyone has people they reference to others so these people will be your equal swap buddies. No? Maybe it needs some work but I think I’m on to something here. Who knows how to make an app? Shoot me an email we can go half on this idea. Hahaha! Ok I’m done, drop the curtain!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. Make sure to stop by on Friday for a New post before you start your Super Bowl weekend and don’t forget to check out The Toke Talking Podcast every Monday right here or on iTunes and Soundcloud. Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Happy Friday everyone! I had a 6AM calltime and not enough time to sleep AND write this thing up last night so..here I am mid afternoon finishing up. How are you doing? How was your week of work? Was it the last? Are you ready for a little Christmas/Holiday Vaca? I know I sure as hell am. I do have one more day of work on hold next week but I can only imagine that after that the town will go dark for a few weeks for the holidays as it has done since I’ve lived out here and worked in the business. If you’re not a fan of time off during the holidays then you may be suffering from “Scrooged”. It’s a virus that affects people who are unhappy with their lives during the holidays. Instead of giving into sadness this holiday season and just sitting home why don’t you try to go find some happiness with your time off. Happiness also doesn’t mean going on some extravagant vacation or buying some lavish expensive new car for yourself. It can be something as simple as going to your favorite restaurant with a good friend and having a chat. It can be helping someone you see pushing their car out of the street because it stalled. I didn’t think this would make me happy but I actually did this last night on the way home from work. As I was pulling onto my block there was a guy pushing his car out of a really busy intersection and so I pulled over to the side, jumped out of my car and gave him a little assistance. His face when he said thank you honestly brought me one of those small moments of happiness. Many of us seem to think that money will bring us happiness but in reality it doesn’t have to cost you a dime. I think we all seem to forget how easy it is to find small bits of happiness everywhere in our everyday lives if we are constantly looking. I had a different topic when I started this post yesterday but I like the way this one is flowing so let’s call this another F.I.F post and get into this shall we?

The older I get the more I find satisfaction in my life by embracing and trying to appreciate all the small burst of happiness that despite all the terrible shit going on in the planet or in our personal lives just continue in the world around us. A perfect example of this is laughter. I have become obsessed with laughter and laughs in general over the last couple of years as a source of happiness. I love listening to people laugh, I love making people laugh and I love laughing myself. I mean who doesn’t? Who has ever said “I don’t like laughing.”? If anyone has ever uttered those words I honestly just feel bad for them. It makes everyone feel good and fill up with joy, what’s not to like? It’s impossible to stay angry while chuckling. Go ahead try it. Next time you’re upset about something go on youtube and watch your favorite funny video and try not to crack a smile. If you don’t have a go to funny youtube video DM me and I’ll send you some of mine. Back to what I was saying about appreciating the small spouts of happiness that life offers us, this is a big one to me. I try to start everyday with a laugh and from the minute I wake up I’m in search of that first good giggle. It may come in the form of waking up with my dog Munchie all up in my face snoring or with his butt resting warmly against my head. It may be my cat Angels long deep inner meow for food that always reminds me of when Marge from The Simpsons grunts. It may be something I watch on TV as I’m getting dressed that supplies me my first snicker of the day. Point is, I search that shit out EVERY DAY! It’s like my coffee in the morning which really doesn’t make sense in my life because I don’t drink coffee like that but I know most people do.

I wasn’t always this person that looked for happiness in random places like laughter before either. Honestly I remember being quite an asshole growing up and at times I even recall being bothered by others who seemed overly happy and joyful. I know now that it was just jealousy and I’m glad I was able to recognize that flaw in myself, in my character as a person because it helped me change. Once I realized that I was just being a stubborn asshole and suppressing my own joy and happiness I was able to let go of those negative feelings. Instead of being bothered by these content people I could now join them and feed off their energy and happiness as well. Happiness and good energy from people is very infectious but you have to let yourself be infected..I mean in a good way.

Thanks for reading everyone! Sorry for the delay on the post time but sleep must always come first, I’m old! HA! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and if this was your last day of work, ENJOY THAT SHIT!! Have a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Vacation, Adventure..whatever you have going on. Go find some happiness. Go find some laughter. Be good to one another.

Happy Friday everyone! I know this post is late as all hell but while it’s been a good week life and work wise it wasn’t the best mentally for me. Nothing serious, just dealing with some big decisions that may arise next year. How was your week? Do you have any big plans for the weekend? I have 2 birthday parties so that should keep me entertained tomorrow and then Sunday is always dedicated to my favorite sport that I sadly don’t believe will survive, football. I’m not saying that it’s going to disappear anytime soon, I’m saying that I feel it’ll slowly start fading out over time. It’ll begin with less and less kids playing, then schools will probably stop supporting it and before you know it POOF! Trust me I hope I’m wrong but numbers and statistical evidence shows it is losing popularity because of not only the violence and danger of playing the sport but also with the growing studies and findings into diseases like CTE that can affect them not only during the time that they are playing but after they retire as well. The risk eventually will become too much for parents to get behind but I can be wrong what the Fuck do I know, I’m just a guy that bought a website to write a blog. Let’s get into this shall we?

I guess this may qualify as a F.I.F (Fuck It Friday) post. If you don’t read the blog often these particular post are ones that don’t necessarily deal with the Film Industry. This one somewhat does but it expands on that world even further as I want to talk about some of the recent Fuck all logic theories that seem to be going around with the growing number of sexual allegations being brought against men in all industries. First let me give you a brief history of myself before I set off on this rant. I’m a 37-year-old Cuban-American Man. I grew up in Miami Florida as many of us Cuban Americans do. I’ve lived in Los Angeles now for 12 years. I’m single, straight and non religious. I work in the Film Industry and prior to that I was a Head Cook at a catering company. I know that’s a very light description and sounded like a dating form to some extent but now you at least know a little bit about the person writing this. SO back this shit that we have going on right now. I’m going to say right from the beginning that I believe the woman and men that have come out to speak up against these men. Yes I believe them before I believe the accused because that’s typically how I think about most crimes when they are reported. While I do believe that everyone is innocent till proven guilty that need to prove their innocence falls on the feet of the person being accused. The person being accused of the crime has to prove THEIR innocence. That’s the way it works when you’re accused of a crime. Moving on, I believe them for a few reasons but the main one being that I don’t know why they would lie. I don’t understand what they (Victim) would gain from falsely accusing someone of a crime that has the type of repercussions for the victim that this one has. Accusing someone of Sexual Misconduct has a well documented history of constantly being met by a good percentage of people not believing and questioning the victim. If you think about it, if someone accuses someone who they were robbed at gun point we never really hear anyone asking “I don’t know if I believe they robbed him, did the victim do or wear anything to suggest they wanted to be robbed?” I mean that doesn’t even sound like a good argument for his (Culprit) lawyer in court. I think in cases like this more people stand behind the victim because common sense will tell the normal logical thinking person that there’s nothing to gain from someone making up such a crime. It is only when a powerful, rich, famous, beloved men are accused of sexual wrongdoings that we question the victims intentions as well. DUMB!

“They do it to make money so they can sue them” “They do is so they can get their name in the news” are other ridiculous arguments that most will bring up when I say that they have nothing to gain. Please if anyone can name one person that sued someone for Sexual Misconduct and is now living the lavish life of wealth and riches let me know because I don’t know of any. A recent story I read on CNN and corroborated on The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Fox provided by the Office of Compliance indicated that Congress paid out 17 Million in Settlements since the 1990’s. That’s 27 years divided by 17 Million is about a million and a half a year. If they paid off 1 person in those 27 years then yeah, that person is probably living a pretty good life out there somewhere with their 17 Mil. I mean even if they paid off 5 people over that time that would be 3.4 million a piece. I can live a pretty great life with that. However we all know very fucking well that there has been well over 5 victims. The Fox report even pointed out that the most awarded was in 2007 where they dished out more that 4 million to 25 people. That’s 160,000 a person. With that type of money I can only imagine all of them bought a private island somewhere and are living as many of us pretend we do with “No worries”. I’d also like to point out that if you have the odd thought of “Why did they settle for so little?” I don’t know much about these victims but if any of them are just your average income making american 160 grand may be a whole lot of money to that person. Not to mention that financially most these victims cannot afford to stand up to someone who’s rich as Fuck in court. Eventually they are going to run out of money and have to settle. So those of you that use this as an excuse, your money-making half-baked scheme theory has some problems holding up to once again what usually takes down all these bullshit theories, facts. Fame, they do it to get famous or get their name in the news. This is yet again another dumb fucking theory. This one is dumb on another level because who in the Fuck wants to be famously known as the victim of someone jerking off in front of them? Who wants to be famous for accusing someone of raping them? Who wants to go and do endless interviews about getting groped and kissed without consent and having to pretend to break down in tears every time? Who wants the social backlash, trolling, hate mail, strange looks and pointing in public and all the other shit that victims that accuse people of this crime suffer through? WHO? Do you? Does anyone you know or ever known sound like they would use this as a platform to spring their career into stardom? If you do you should seek help for that person or yourself because you are a fucked up human being my friend.

“Why did they wait so long?” WHO THE FUCK CARES??? Why is this even a question that anyone would ask? There is no time-table in which one needs to report a crime. Plus and I never get tired of bringing up this should be obvious point, unless you have been in the same situation and acted different your opinion of what they should have done and when is subjective and based on your vision of what you FEEL you would do in that situation. There is no way that you can feel the fear, horror, stress and everything else these victims go through to make any type of correct assessment of how you would act put in the same situation. I would like to think that if a well-known millionaire grabbed my dick at a party that I would whoop his ass and sue him but since I’ve never been in the situation I can’t say how that’s how it would go down. I know a younger version of me would take a beer bottle to his head but adult me knows that then he can sue me. If act violently then the lines get blurrier when we get to any legal action. I know very well that a good majority of men that I know if were ever say raped in a parking lot going to their car would without a shadow of a doubt NEVER report that crime to anyone let alone any type of law enforcement. Most the men I know are prideful as hell and they would never put themselves through the humility they imagine they would feel in reporting that something like that happen. If you know men like this or are a man yourself that can relate then how can you honestly question someone who comes out against these crimes. I’ve never been a victim of such a crime and I know I can NEVER understand what these people go through and that’s why I listen to them and professionals that have studied and dedicated their lives to helping these victims. The bravery and guts it takes to stand in front of millions and accuse someone of this shit knowing that millions potentially will not believe you is nothing short of amazing to me. That is fucking badass. That is fucking empowering. That is what I’ve always thought we as people should aspire to be. How can any of stand here and not believe them? All our lives we are taught to go to those in charge of protecting us when we are in trouble. Think about if when you went to those people who you trust and are supposed to protect you instead question your honesty.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Be good to one another.

Hello everybody! Welcome to We’re Not Rolling. I’m your want to be, trying to be…writer. I was wondering the other day does anyone ever come up to you and declare you a writer? Do you just declare yourself one? Or is it only official once you get paid for your stuff? Fuck if I know. HA! Continue reading “My Social Space…”

I almost started off with Happy Friday, I was ready to start the weekend all over again. That just goes to show you where my heads at. I’m actually about to go on a mini vaca down to Miami for my Abuelas 90th Birthday. 90!! How amazing is that? Continue reading “Can I Take Your Order…”

Happy Friday!! I wish I could say that I really mean those exclamation marks but I have to say yesterday was a really tough day for me. The lead singer of one of my and I’m sure some of yours favorite band took his life yesterday joining what lately seems like a reoccurring occurrence. Granted death is always in the air but there’s just been so much of it in the spot light lately. So many of my heroes, idols…people I grew up with that made very impactful meaning in my life growing up are dying. Martin Landau, Nelson Ellis, Adam West, Stephen Furst, Michael Bond, Gregg Allman, Charlie Murphy, Don Rickles, Chuck Berry, Bill Paxton, Mary Tyler Moore. I missed some on that list but thats just this year everyone. Chester Benningtons death comes not only months after his friend and lead singer of another amazing band I grew up with Chris Cornells death but also on his birthday. We lost the great mind of Mr George Romero just 5 days ago as well. It was a tough week and it’s been a really tough year in this retrospect to be honest. I’m sorry if this is one of the saddest openings I’ve had on here. I thought about leaving this till the end but that just did not feel right. These people were amazing and deserve to be remembered first always. Thank you so much for all your amazing creative genius that made the world just that much better. We will miss you all and never forget all you did. My thoughts are with all the family, friends and families of everyone lost so far not only this year but ever really. Death sucks! Let’s get into this, shall we?

While I’ve never been on the receiving end of any yelling I have encountered miserable crew people and that’s the topic of today’s post. I’m talking about Guys and Gals that have either been in the game too long, should have never gotten in to begin with OR are just unhappy people. Look I want to tell you that the world is sunshine, fairies, cheeseburgers and pizza but it’s not. There’s definitely people that we share this fine slowly heating up globe with that just want to roam its vast lands and seas trying to pull off their best impression of the unhappy emoji face or the pissed off one. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. You can’t fix these people because this is how they have chosen to live their lives. Deciding to act like an asshole your entire life does not just happen that shit is a life choice. Most of them aren’t even ashamed of it. They proudly wear their disgust for life openly. Hahahah!

However! There’s always a however…I have worked with a few people who put this asshole front at work and then out of work they’re freaking the life of the party. Outgoing, socially engaging and just great, fun people to hang out with. Funny enough I think I might be slightly opposite in that I do get a lot angrier in regular life than at work. Very seldom does any anger from the dark side corrupt my work hours. I know, weird huh? I’ve told you guys before, it has to do with the “The giving a shit Factor”. A study that I believe would be a breakthrough in the medical field if scientist could just bring themselves to actually “Giving a Shit” to conduct the study but then that would also kind of disprove the theory right? What? Moving on!

Then there’s also the type of people who put up the asshole front..let’s call it the asshole wall. There’s certain people who put up the asshole wall only towards certain people. Which is extremely weird because it makes it so selective. It’s like they put up this asshole wall but theirs has a door and only some people can come in and be cool with them. Very high school state of mind when you think about it. Now lastly there are just the ones that are just terrible people. Their rude, um-engaging, stand offish..I haven’t worked with many like this but I did work with a dolly grip that was just total bag of dicks. He was the perfect example of someone who I know that was miserable for no reason at all. Well look I won’t be totally one-sided because I don’t know about his life but still there’s never a need to be rude to strangers. He was only chatty (I use that term loosely) with the Key Grip (DUH! The Boss). I think of everybody that I have encountered that’s falls into this category this guy was the most unhappy fuck. I don’t know if it’s wrong or right of me but I find people like this fascinating because I want to see just how long they can keep up that mean mug. I would go out of my way to say good morning or some type of corny shit like that to this guy every day. He would just nod as I said “Good Morning!” or “Happy Friday!” With a big smile on my face.

Eventually I worked him into actually saying “What’s Up?” when I would greet him. I would also do random shit like bring him water while he was in the middle of set in front of everyone which would force him to say “Thank you” because well…it’s tough to be a total dirt bag when someone does some random act of kindness. This guy never once treated me wrong or threw any of his anger waves my way but he was seriously made of stone. I’m not sure what happen in this Dudes life that made him “..such a Sour Puss!” I’ll give you imaginary cool points if you know what movie that’s quoted from. This guy however did not make it through the entire show. He got into a loud argument with one of the location guys, threw around a couple of curses and that was it. Cursing in the work place unless you’re some hire up is always a no no. Why we hold them to a different standard is beyond me. I thought we all have been fighting for equality in the workplace but I guess that stops at how some of us act depending on our title in this industry. WHAT?? Let’s stop there before this turns into a long one.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. Please feel free to send in your own tales, rants, tips..anything film industry related so I can share them here on the site. Lastly back to what I was talking about in the opening, don’t worry I’ll try not to bum you out again. Instead I want to do the opposite and say that go find a smile, a laugh, a minute of pure joy this weekend. Whether that be a sunset, a kids laugh (sounds weird), a cheeseburger, spending the day with your pet or telling someone you haven’t spoken to in a while that you love them go out there and do it. I know it sounds cheesy as Fuck but take advantage of every moment of your life. I started this post prior to yesterdays tragedy and so I wasn’t sure how the opening would mix in. I knew I had no option because I knew I wanted to talk about it because this is truly a form of therapy for me. When was writing the opening and then got into the tale of the guy and the topic of the post I realized that it did tie together. Everything ties together because we are all one. Non of our time here is guaranteed so don’t spend it being miserable try to find some happiness. Have an amazing weekend everyone and remember to be good to one another.

Posts navigation

Welcome to We’re Not Rolling

Hello all! Welcome to my blog. I started this crazy thing because I've been working in the film industry now for several years now and I needed an avenue to tell some of the insane stories and adventures that I've been on during that time. I also needed to vent about some of the ridiculousness that goes on in this crazy circus that we call a job. I won't ever use any names or specifics so if you're looking for industry gossip this is not the blog for you. I apologize if anyone is offended by anything on here but seriously it's my opinion, no one is telling you to read it. I love working in this business and could never imagine doing anything else, even if it sounds like it makes me crazy at times. It's fucking awsome! Hope you enjoy the rambling and if you got any suggestions let me know.
-PEACE